Booking advice, please!

[LisaLeone]

Hi all...I am looking at a cruise in September 2021 and, of course, am starting to price it out. My question is that I will be on the Summit in May of this year. Has it been your experience that you get more (ie, price and perks) if you book on board? Does it have to be a new booking or can I book a refundable now a switch it over? 

I appreciate the collective wisdom on this board. Thank you!

[vermonter16]

You could cancel as long as you haven't made final payment and then book the same cruise.

[39august]

Be sure you book directly with Celebrity. not a TA You must "own" the reservation in order to cancel it and re-book while on board. There is no difference in price, but you get OBC of $150 per person for cruises 5-9 nights and $200 per person OBC for longer cruises and whatever promotion is going on at the time

[TeeRick]

If you book very early when the cruise first comes out you might get the best price.  Later, onboard you can price it out again and compare what perks and OBC is included vs what you reserved already.  Then make a decision.  Also pay attention to Refundable vs non-Refundable deposits.

[Jim_Iain]

You will get incentives by booking on board like an OBC and sometimes an extra perk.    You can not transfer an existing booking on board.   You would need to make a new booking and then cancel your existing one.    Make sure you don't loose any perks you currently have.   If you want your room you can cancel your room and it will show back in inventory and then have Celebrity or your agent grab it.

[varoo]

14 hours ago, LisaLeone said:

Hi all...I am looking at a cruise in September 2021 and, of course, am starting to price it out. My question is that I will be on the Summit in May of this year. Has it been your experience that you get more (ie, price and perks) if you book on board? Does it have to be a new booking or can I book a refundable now a switch it over? 

I appreciate the collective wisdom on this board. Thank you!

 

It just depends on which way turns out to be more beneficial to you at the time.

Sometimes you may get a much lower price on the initial booking, so even with the additional onboard booking perks, it may not be worth cancelling and re-booking.

 

But often it can really be advantageous to re-book onboard and cancel the initial booking.

Even then,  the procedure can vary depending on which agent happens to be doing the re-booking.

 

We have had the situation where we and the future cruise agent both got online at the same time;  we cancelled our initial booking and the agent immediately picked up the cabin as soon as the system released it.

 

We have also had the experience where the future cruise agent took care of the whole thing (the cancellation and the re-booking) so we did not need to do anything except give consent.